Shelf structure



R. G. CHESLEY SHELF STRUCTURE July 13, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed June 3, 1965 INVENTOR.

Aoszzr b. CHESLEY MLJ'OM 55774:: 66416 July 13, 1965 R. G. CHESLEY SHELF STRUCTURE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 3, 1963 v INVENTQR KoBERr 6. CHESLEY BY 42/ 015 SETTLE & (I'm/e HTTOKNEKS United States PatentO 3,194,528 SHELF STRUCTURE Robert G. Chesley, Farmington, Micln, assiguor to Chesley Industries, Inc., Farmington, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Filed June 3, 1963, Ser. No. 284,945 1 Claim. (Cl. 248-250) This invention relates to a shelf structure, and more particularly to a shelf structure for displaying retail merchandise which may be readily installed on a supporting wall surface with various arrangements of the component parts to accommodate different loading conditions and which when installed forms a rigid, secure structure.

7 It is an object of the invention to provide a shelf structure for the display of retail merchandise.

Another object of the invention is to provide a wire shelf structure which is of a self-cleaning nature, requiring a minimum of maintenance.

A further object of the invention is to provide a wire shelf structure having support brackets, the support brackets including novel fastening means for securement of these shelves to the brackets.

A still further object of the invention is to provide wire shelves of the endless type, that is, shelves which have no permanent end wall whereby a plurality of the shelves may be mounted in line without intervening wall structures.

Another object of the invention is to provide detachable separators which may be removably mounted on the wire shelves to form separators or to form end walls.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a shelf structure having a knock-down construction which may be readily mounted or removed from a supporting wall.

The present invention is an improvement over my copending application, now Patent No. 3,092,047, issued June 4, 1963.

Other objects of this invention will appear in the following description and appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification wherein like reference characters designate corresponding parts in the several views.

In the drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a view in perspective of one embodiment of the shelf structure of the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view of the rear portion of the shelf-supporting bracket illustrating the means for attaching the bracket to the supporting walls and the means for attaching the shelf to the bracket;

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view illustrating an alternate technique for fastening the shelf to the bracket;

FIGURE 4 is a view in perspective of an alternate form of the shelf-supporting bracket;

FIGURE 5 is a view in perspective illustrating an alternate technique for fastening the shelf to the bracket;

FIGURE 6 is an enlarged perspective View of the end gate of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 7 is a perspective view illustrating a modified end wall construction.

Before explaining the present invention in detail, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited in its application to the details of construction and arrangement ofparts illustrated in the accompanying drawings, since 3,l4,523 Patented July 13, 1965 ice the invention is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation.

Referring to the drawings, it will be seen that the shelf structure 10 comprises uprights 12 secured to a supporting wall 14. Each upright carries a horizontally extending shelf-supporting bracket 16. Wire shelves 18 are supported in a substantially horizontal plane on the brackets 16.

As will be noted in FIGURES 1 and 2, the uprights 12 are channel sections having legs 20, 22 joined together by a web 24. The uprights are positioned with the legs 20, 22 abutting against the wall 14. Recessed openings 26 are provided to receive screws 28 which threadingly engage the wall to secure the uprights in place. As shown, four uprights are provided to support-two shelves. However, more uprights may be utilized if desired.

A plurality of vertically spaced generally rectangular openings 39 are provided in the web 24. The openings 30 permit mounting of the bracket 16 at different vertical positions whereby the shelf 12 may be located at any desired vertical level.

The brackets 16 are of generally triangular shape and are positioned with the upper shelf supporting edges 32 in the same horizontal plane. As illustrated in FIGURE 2, the inner end of each bracket is provided with a pair of lugs 34, 36. Each lug has an inwardly projecting portion 38 and a downwardly projecting portion 40 to form an L-shape. The edge 42 of portion 40 is spaced from the edge 44 of the bracket a distance approximately equal to the thickness of the web 24. The lugs 34, 36 are vertically spaced from each other a distance approximately equal to the distance between two of the openings 30 in the uprights. The bracket 16 is formed with slots 46 adjacent the lugs to permit easy insertion of the lugs into the upright openings.

In operation, the brackets are mounted on the uprights by inserting the lugs 34, 36 through a pair of openings Sti. Upon insertion of the lugs through the openings, the bracket is forced downwardly whereby the lug edges 42. will engage the inner surface of the web and the bracket edge 44 will engage the outer surface of the web to lock the bracket securely in place. The brackets are also provided with a pair of tabs 48, St at their inner ends which are bent outwardly in opposite directions for abutment against the upright web 24 to provide lateral support for the brackets.

As previously mentioned, the wire shelf 18 is supported on the upper edges 32 of the brackets. The shelf 18 comprises a generally rectangular outer frame 52 fabricated from relatively heavy gage wire. A grill-work of lighter gage wire is provided within the frame 52. The grill-work consists of a plurality of elements 54 which extend transversely of the brackets 16 and a plurality of elements 56 which extend in directions substantially parallel of the edges 32 of the brackets. The various wire elements of the shelf are secured together by welding as shown at 58 in FIGURE 2.

As will be noted in FIGURE 2, a notch is provided in the upper edge of the bracket adjacent the inner end thereof. The notch 86 receives the large diameter frame wire 52 to compensate for the difference in diameter of up 89 the wire 52 and the small diameter wire elements 54. This arrangement prevents canting of the shelf.

The forward marginal portion 61) of the shelf is bent upwardly to form a front Wall 'for retaining articles positioned on the shelf. A wire element 62 of relatively heavy gage is provided on the Wall 60 and acts as a reinforcement.

The fastening means forsecuring the shelf 18 to the bracket 16 may be seen in FIGURES 1 and 2. Wire elements 52, 64 are secured to the side surface 66 of the bracket .16 as by welding. The wire elements 62 64. are spaced apart a distance equal to the spacing of a pair of the grill-work elements 54. The elements 62, '64 extend upwardly beyond edge 32 of the bracket. When the shelf 18 has been placed on the brackets 16, the wire ele- As will be appreciated, the same effect may be obtained by positioning the uprights-12 so that the fastening elements 62, "(4 of the brackets fall on the inside of the grillwork element 56. That is, the fastening elements. of the .left hand bracket 16 would fall to the right of this wire element 56 while the fastening elements of the right hand bracket would fall to the left of this wire element 56.

Another method for securing the shelf 18 against lateral movement is illustrated in FIGURE 3. As there shown, the rearmost wire element 62 is bent around the trans verse grill-work element 54 on one side of the grill-work element 56 and the bracket is then bent slightly and the 1 second fastening element 64 is bent around its transverse element 54 on the other side of the element 56. As will be appreciated, this arrangement also prevents lateral movement of the wire shelf 18.

FIGURE 4 illustrates a modification of the bracket to insure securing the wire shelf against lateral movement.

As will be noted, the bracket '68 has one wire element 70 secured to side surface '72 and the second wire element 74 secured to the opposite surface 76. In this arrangement, the shelf is positioned so that the wire element 78 overlies the upper edge 81? of the bracket. The element 78 is thus positioned between the elements 79, 74 so that when these elements are bent around the transverse grill-work elements 32, 84, they will fall on either side of the wire element 78 to thus prevent lateral movement of the shelf.

FIGURE shows another method for attaching the shelf to the bracket 68 of :FIGURE 4. Instead of bending the elements 79, 74 around transverse wire elements 82,

As will be noted,

554, they are bent around element 78. wire elements 70, 74 are positioned on opposite sides of transverse elements 82, 84 to prevent shifting of the shelf. The bracket construction 16 of FIGURE 1 may also be attached to the shelf in this manner.

The removable wall members 88 which may be used as end-gates or as separators within the ends of the shelf, are best illustrated in FIGURE 6. The walls 88 comprise a wire'element )0 which is bent in a U-shape to form a frame for the wall member. The legs 92, 94 are spaced apart and supported by a pair of vertically extending wire elements 96, 9'8 and a pair of U-shaped locking elements 1131i, 1112 provided adjacent to the rearmost end of the Wall. The wall structure also includes an inner oblongshaped wire element 102 which is secured to the elements 96, 9S, 1%, 102. The element 102 acts to close the space between the legs 92, 94 and thus prevents articles of merchandise from passingtherethrough.

The legs 92, *94 extend beyond the forwardmost end of the wall 88 and are bent to form hooks 106, 103. These hooks engage the upwardly extending portion 110 of the 4 forward marginal portion 66 of the shelf frame 52. The wall is thus secured at its forward end.

Referring to the rearward end of the wall, it will be noted that the U-shaped elements 113i 102 are provided on opposite sides of the legs 92, 194 and are spaced apart along these egs. The lower portions 112, 114 of each of the elements 1%, 102 extend below the lower leg 94, The portions 112, 114 are received on the horizontally extending portion 116 of the frame 52 and lock the wall against sideward movement. The portions 112, 114 also frictionally engage the wire portion11=6 to thus provide firm engagement of the Wall with the shelf. a

The advantage of using removable wall elements resides in the fact that a plurality of the shelves 18 may be mountedend to end without any intervening wall structure. The presence of intervening wall structure would determine the compartment size. That is, if each shelf had a permanent end wall, the entire shelf structure would be fixedly compartmented to this size. It is frequently desirable to vary the compartment size to suit different types of merchandise. Additionally, in many applications,.it is desirable to have no compartments at all. However, when it is desired to compartment the shelf arrangement, detachable separators 89 may be. mounted where desired. The separators .89 have the same construction as the end pieces '83 excepting that the size of the hooks 118, 120 and the size of the wire member 122 are of a smaller diameter to suit the smaller size of the grill-work wire elements 56.

FIGURE 7 illustrates a modification of the forward end of the end-piece. As will be noted, the hooks 106, 108 have been eliminated. The end-piece 124 has an ovalshaped wire outer frame 126 which terminates short of the vertical shelf frame member 110. The center ovalshaped portion 128 has a portion 130 which extends beyond the forward end of the frame member .126. A second U-shaped member 132 is secured to the opposite side of the frame member 126 and extends generally parallel to the portion 130. The members 13-0, 132 are thus spaced apart and are received on the shelf frame member 110 to secure the front end of the end-piece 124 to the shelf. The advantage of the construction shown in FIGURE 7 over that shown in FIGURE 6 resides in the fact that it isnot necessary to provide right hand and left hand endpieces. When hooks are used, right hand and left hand end-pieces must be provided in order thatthe hooks will always be bent inwardly towards the inner portion of the shelf to prevent sharp edges on the exterior of the shelf construction which might tear the clothing-or injure a person who brushes thereagainst.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

A shelf structure comprising a plurality of uprights securable to a wall, each of said uprights including a wall portion having a plurality of vertically spaced openings therein, a shelf-support bracket, for each upright, said shelf-support brackets .having lug means at one end, said lug means extending through selected openings in the uprights into engagement with said upright wall portion to detachably secure the brackets to the uprights at selected vertical levels, each of said brackets havinga substantially horizontal upper support edge, a shelf comprising a grill-work of angularly related spaced apart wire elements mounted on the upper support edges of the shelf-support brackets, some of. the wire elements of the shelf extending in directions substantially parallel to said upper support edges and'others of the wire elements of the shelf extending in directions substantially perpendicular to said upper support edges, and at least two manually'bendable wire fastening elements extending upwardly from each bracket, one of said wire fastening elements being positioned on one side of the brackets and the otherof said elements being positioned on the opposite side of the brackets, each of said wire fastening elements being bent around one of either of the parallel or perpendicular shelf wire elements andengaging the other of the parallel or V perpendicular shelf wire elements at a point adjacent to the 5 intersection of a parallel and perpendicular shelf Wire element, at least one of the shelf wire elements which extends substantially parallel to the upper support edges overlying the upper support edge of one bracket, the wire fastening elements of the last-mentioned bracket being positioned on either side of the overlying wire element to thereby prevent shifting of the shelf With respect to the brackets.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 584,069 6/97 Beers et al 211181 1,725,422 8/29 Roushar 'et a1 211181 1,849,326 3/32 Hargroves 292253 1,965,658 7/34 6 5/38 Robinson 21 1181 4/41 Nauert 21l-181 4/58 Masl-ow 220-19 10/59 Skolfield et a1. 211-l84 8/ 60 Rehrig 22019 12/59 Levy 108-108 1/62 Radek 211-184 6/63 Chesley 108-437 8/63 Streater 211148 FOREIGN PATENTS 6/ 59 Canada. 8/60 Great Britain.

Leigh 292253 15 FRANK B. SHERRY, Primary Examiner. 

